It can tie to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) or the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) to activate JAK/STAT, PI3K/AKT, MAPK/NF-κB, and NLRP3 inflammasome pathways, thereby enhancing proinflammatory response and development of various inflammatory diseases, including autoimmune disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease (Wang et al., 2018). The gene discussed is AGER; the disease is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.